


Jumping the Apex

by lookatthesefreakinghipsters



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Roller Derby, Gen, Parent Dean, Pre-Castiel/Dean Winchester, Uncle Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 06:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3477779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lookatthesefreakinghipsters/pseuds/lookatthesefreakinghipsters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Claire, ahem, excuse me, Angelic Weapon, has just turned 18, passed her skills test and can finally jam with the best of them.  That is, if she can stay on her skates and survive the embarrassment that is her uncle Cas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jumping the Apex

**Author's Note:**

> A Christmas present fic for [subjecttochange8](http://subjecttochange8.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Also, thank you to [sparklylegolas](http://sparklylegolas.tumblr.com/), [inthebackoftheimpala](http://inthebackoftheimpala.tumblr.com/) and [theresstillme](http://theresstillme.tumblr.com/) for giving me suggestions for roller derby nicknames!
> 
> This is based on flat-track derby, not banked and should be correct with the 2014 rule changes.

Claire took a deep breath as she looked out onto the concrete floor. The crowds were starting to file in and fill up the arena, along with a few people sitting in folding chairs set up on the floor, not too far from the taped outline of the track. A few brave souls had already staked out their spaces in the suicide seats, including a couple of the girls from the junior team, which Claire had just graduated from on her 18th birthday after she passed her skills test. Krissy and Josephine were already in the suicide seats, a sign which read “Angelic Weapon ROCKS!” making Claire grin.

Scanning the crowd, she spotted Castiel sitting in a folding chair in the second row, looking stiff and out-of-place in the crowd composed mainly of young, enthusiastic derby fans. Sighing at seeing him, she shook her head. She knew it wouldn’t be his scene, but he had insisted on coming anyways.

"Move it," a voice said, angrily, from behind Claire.

Turning around, Claire sighed when she saw Fangella and Amazonian Hunteress. For some reason, Fangella could be particularly antagonistic and difficult to play with, but her talent as a jammer meant that everyone put up with her, in spite of it.

Fangella shoved her way onto the concrete, past Claire, hitting the concrete with an effortless glide, her gorgeous pair of Antiks making it seem like she was soaring. “Come on,” Amazonian Huntress said, “get your butt out there. You don’t want to miss your first bout.”

Claire stepped onto the concrete, her R3s carrying her forward. As she skated over to the track to warm up, Castiel saw her and gave her a little awkward wave. Sighing, she gave him a wave back. “That your dad?” Huntress asked as she skated next to Claire.

"My uncle. My dad’s dead," Claire replied, brusquely.

"Sorry," Huntress said, her voice filled with apology.

Claire shook her head, as they looped around the track, skating right past Castiel’ seat. “Sorry. Shouldn’t have snapped, you didn’t know.”

"It’s fine," Huntress said, "Good luck with your first bout, Angel." Huntress skated off and dropped her water bottle off at her team’s bench.

Claire skated past the suicide seats and caught Krissy and Josephine’s eyes, who started cheering her on and waving their sign at her. After she passed them, she skated outside the track and did a quick tomahawk stop. Skating back to the suicide seats, she dropped to her knees as she got close and skidded on her knee pads and on the duct tape covering the top of her skates, coming to a stop next to Josie. “You ready for your first bout?” Josie asked, giving Claire a hug.

"It’s only an inter-league bout, it’s just against the girls we scrimmage against all the time."

"Shut up, Claire, it’s exciting," Krissy said, punching her lightly in the arm.

Claire grinned and added, “Yeah, it is.”

Josie asked, “Are you jamming tonight?”

"I don’t know," she replied, "We’ll see where coach puts me." Seeing Vampire Queen waving at her from the bench, she said, "See you girls, later."

Josie and Krissy both yelled out, “Good luck!” as she skated away.

Getting to the team bench, she nodded in acknowledgement at Vampire Queen, who took the strap of Claire’s helmet, and adjusted it. Vampire Queen then put her hand on top of Claire’s helmet and shoved it from side to side. Satisfied it wouldn’t slip or move during the bout, she said, “Don’t let me catch you with your helmet not on securely enough.”

Cheeks flushing, Claire said, “Yes, Captain.”

Sensing Claire’s embarrassment, Vampire Queen said, kindly, “I actually brought you here because my husband wants to talk to you.” Grabbing the team coach’s sleeve, she whispered something in his ear.

Ragin’ Cajun looked at Claire and asked, “Well, girlie, you ready for the big leagues?” Claire nodded, butterflies suddenly taking up residence in her stomach. “Good,” he continued, “‘cause I wanna see what you’re made of as a jammer.”

"I won’t let you down, Coach," Claire said.

"You do your best now, girl. Better finish warming up or you’ll be damn near useless out there."

"Yes Coach," Claire replied, heading back out onto the track to finish warming up. As she skated around, feeling more and more comfortable on the track, after all the time she’d spent practicing to get to this point, her butterflies started to subside. As Claire skated by Huntress, Huntress grabbed her by the elbow pads and nudged her, pointing at something in the crowd.

Looking where Huntress was pointing her, she saw her uncle chatting with a handsome man in his thirties. “Looks like your uncle’s making friends with my dad,” Huntress said, a smirk on her lips.

Claire grinned, and added, “It’ll be awkward when they realize they’re cheering for opposite teams.”

After finishing the warm-up and stretches, the buzzer sounded to start the bout. The players lined up in front of their benches, as the refs made their way down the line, checking everyone’s gear. As Sasquatch checked Claire’s gear, he whispered to her, “Good luck tonight, newbie.”

Once the players were all deemed safe to play, Garth got onto the speaker system and announced, “Welcome to your evening’s main entertainment! We’ve got a great bout for you tonight, the third inter-league bout of the season between the Hell Hounds, captained by the Queen of Moons, and the Killer Ladies, captained by Vampire Queen! Right now, the Hell Hounds lead the season two to zero, but will all that turn around tonight? We’ll have to see! Let’s derby!”

The crowd started to cheer and applaud as the first line took to the track. Vampire Queen was jamming against Fangella and were lined up at the jammer line, the rest of the pack and the pivots behind the pivot line. Sasquatch let out one whistle, releasing the players. Vampire Queen, ever-quick on her feet, launched herself forward, trying to get around the players before they had a chance to form a defense and block her. Launching herself over the outstretched legs of Rebel Rebel and Kitsune who were trying to form a wall to block her, she landed elegantly on one foot. Sasquatch signalled that she was lead jammer and her long legs took her three-quarters of the way around the track before Fangella managed to make her way through the pack.

Two of the Killer Ladies managed to hug the inside track while the other two cycled to the back, trying to block the Hell Hounds defensive plays. As Vampire Queen made her way up around the back of the pack, the Killer Ladies on the inside checked Rebel Rebel and Kitsune, making a hole along the inside of the track, allowing her to pass through the pack quickly. As she got through, she glanced back, and seeing Fangella coming up along the back of the pack, she hit her hands against her hips, calling off the jam. Sasquatch blew his whistle in four short burst and then signalled to the NSOs to change the score to four to zero.

Cheers erupted from the crowd and as Vampire Queen returned to the bench. Pulling the starred helmet cover off, she threw it to Claire, who grabbed it eagerly and shoved it over her sticker-adorned helmet. “Get out there, kid,” Benny said, as Claire was already halfway to the jammer line.

Standing next to the Queen of Moons, she was filled with excitement and not a small amount of terror. “You’re up, huh?” The Queen of Moons asked. “Good for you.” She held out her fist and Claire bumped it with her own.

A smile on her face, Claire went up onto her stoppers, ready to launch herself into the pack. The whistle blew and Claire felt a hard body check against her ribs and side. Knocked off balance, she fell hard onto her wrists and knees, the concrete giving her little in the way of a soft landing. Glancing up, she saw her uncle in the audience, looking at her intensely, almost as if he was trying to telepathically tell her to get up. Getting up onto her skates as quickly as she could, Claire dashed off to catch up to the pack. Once she got there, she was pleased to see that two blockers were practically sitting on the Queen of Moons, preventing her from getting anywhere. Spotting a hole in the defense of the Hell Hounds, Claire ducked beneath an outstretched arm and grabbed onto the arm of her teammate, Demon of Destruction. Demon of Destruction threw her forward with a strong arm whip and she soared along the outside of the track. Sasquatch signalled that she was lead jammer and glancing at the suicide seats, she saw Josie and Krissy cheering her and waving their sign at her. Emboldened, she found a new gear in her skating and breezed along the track, faster than she even managed in her 25-in-5. As she came to the back of the pack once more, she saw the Queen of Moons escape through the front of the pack. Her momentum took her through the pack quickly this time, her teammates playing sharp defense to help her out. As she looked over at the Queen of Moons making quick work of the track, she hit her hands against her hips and Sasquatch blew the whistle to call off the jam, right before the Queen of Moons would have hit the pack.

As Claire skated back to the bench, she pulled off the helmet cover and threw it to the next jammer, already on her way to the track. Breathing heavily, several of the other players clapped her on the back in congratulations for doing so well on her first jam. “Good job, Angelic Weapon,” Ragin’ Cajun said, as she grabbed a gulp of water from her water bottle. “That’s what ya gotta do, get hit, get back up. Proud of you.”

"Thanks Coach," she said.

The game went by quickly, the action fast and furious. Claire jammed three more times and was up as blocker once before the half was over. By the time the buzzer for halftime went, the game was Hell Hounds 29 and Killer Ladies 31. The teams filed out after the buzzer sounded, heading to their change rooms.

The girls were abuzz, happy they were leading, but nervous since the game was so tight. Demon of Destruction sat in the corner of the room, a picture of stillness and calm. Vampire Queen chatted with Ragin’ Cajun as they worked out various strategies they could use in the second period. June Cleave-Her and Abby Antagonism sat in the other corner on the hard wooden bench, their heads bent close together and deep in conversation. Yellow Brick House was busy trying to fix her the toe guards on her skates which had come loose. Frustrated, she tore them off angrily and grabbed some duct tape out of Demon’s bag, ignoring Demon’s half-hearted kick in her direction, the wheels on her skates spinning in mid-air as she didn’t connect. Claire found herself just watching her team mates, soaking up the atmosphere and munching on a granola bar Castiel had snuck into her bag, just in case.

"Alright, ladies," Ragin’ Cajun announced, as the room quieted down. "Y’all have been playing some killer derby out there! Killer derby from the Killer Ladies!" At that, the team cheered. "Second half’s going to be tough, the Hell Hounds aren’t going to make it easy on you, but we can win this! Blockers, keep cycling. And sit on Fangella, she not as quick on her feet as she wants to be. Abby and Demon, you two are working well together, I want you to pair up whenever possible. But Abby, when you’re on that inside track, I want you to hug it. Hug it like it’s that Sasquatch you call a boyfriend. Just be all over it, because Queen o’ Moons, she’ll find any space you leave her."

Abby looked up at Ragin’ Cajun and nodded, a small smile playing on her lips, her brown hair bouncing down her back where it wasn’t stuck to the back of her neck from sweat. Claire suddenly felt very bad for the Hell Hounds, because when Abby got that look on her face, it always spelled a rough-and-tumble game.

"Angelic Weapon," he said and Claire’s head whipped up to look him in the eyes, her heart hammering a brutal tattoo against her ribcage. Ragin’ Cajun gave her a thumbs up and a grin. Claire’s face flushed red and she smiled.

"June, let’s see some of those checks from you, I need you to make holes for our jammers. We’re playing too defensively, I want to see more offense, from everyone." 

Some of the players murmured, “Yes Coach.”

"What did you ladies say? I can’t hear you!"

"Yes Coach!" the team yelled.

"I still can’t hear you ladies!"

"YES COACH!"

"Let’s win this one! Killer Ladies on three! One! Two! Three!"

"KILLER LADIES!" the team cheered.

The team made their way back to the concrete as the NSOs cleaned up the last of the debris from the half-time entertainment. Hitting the ground, Claire breathed in a deep breath, filled with confidence and energy. Looking over, she spotted Castiel and Emma’s father chatting, looking deep in conversation. Maybe it was the game, the energy, or the good mood she was in, but she felt genuinely glad that Castiel was there to see her play. 

After a few minutes to warm back up, the players headed to the bench, Cajun gave her the starred helmet cover. “Angelic Weapon, get out there. Yellow Brick House, pivot,” he said, throwing the striped helmet cover to Yellow Brick House.

Claire skated over to the jammer line and lined up on the inside of the track. Fangella lined up next to her, her black mouth guard bared at Emma. As Sasquatch blew his whistle, Claire took off like a rocket, trying to manoeuvre quickly through the blockers. Just as she was about to pass Amazonian Huntress, she was checked hard into the middle, outside of the track boundary. Scrambling to her feet, she re-entered the track, not realizing that Huntress was now at the back of the pack. A whistle sounded and Claire glanced over at Sasquatch, who had his arms crossed like an X in front of his chest. “Shit,” she said as Sasquatch started signalling her to go to the penalty area. Skating over to the penalty box, she threw herself onto the ground on her knees to stop and then clamoured into the nearest seat and watched as the NSO started the 30 second timer. Unable to look at the bench, she turned to face Castiel. His face was inscrutable, like it was made of stone, or something sterner still. Then, he gave her a nod. Of what, Claire couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like it was approval or consolation.

Turning back to the game, she bit her thumb nail nervously. Fangella had managed to get through the pack and was on her first scoring run, and no matter how much the Killer Ladies tried to speed up the pack, the Hell Hounds were managing to slow it to a crawl. Fangella pushed her way through the pack for a second time and as she passed Claire in the box, scored a grand slam. Sasquatch’s hand went up, all five fingers extended, and Garth announced, “And Fangella, with Angelic Weapon in the box, has scored the ever-sought after grand slam!”

Claire blinked and prayed for the end of the penalty to come. As the pack passed by the box, and Fangella came around once more, the NSO released her. Hopping onto her toe stops, she took a running start, trying to get close to the pack before Fangella could score any more points. Yellow Brick Road and June Cleave-Her tried to make some holes in the pack for her to slip by. Claire passed through the pack quickly, taking mind of her elbows, unwilling to get sent to the box again. Fangella, though, was hot on her heels and made it through the pack only a few steps behind her. Pumping her arm to get more speed, she managed to put more distance between her and Fangella. As she approached the pack on her first scoring pass, she heard the four whistles signalling the end of the jam. Fangella had called it off before she could get any points.

She skated back to the bench, ripping off her helmet cover and tossed it to Vampire Queen. Gasping for air, she sat down and had a drink of water. Seeing Ragin’ Cajun coming over, she felt a fiery and horrible embarrassment, for letting her team down. Blinking back hot tears, she looked directly down, examining the scuffs on the duct tape over the toe of her right skate.

Ragin’ Cajun sat down next to her, shooing away the other players, who moved a little further down the bench.

"Sorry Coach," she said quickly.

"Claire," he said, his using her real name making her perk up and look him in the eyes. Such blue eyes, she had a pang of grief feel like ice in her heart at the sight of them. "I know this year hasn’t been easy for you." At Claire’s look of confusion, he added, "Your uncle and I spoke, he’s told me about what happened to your father and about your mother leaving afterwards. He wanted to make sure I knew why you needed something like roller derby in your life."

A ugly thought dawned on Claire, and she demanded, “You didn’t put me as jammer just because of what happened to my family, did you?”

"No, of course not. I put you as jammer because you’re good at it. So don’t be too tough on yourself, ok girl? Did you learn something from that jam?"

"Yes."

"Good, get out there and use it."

Ragin’ Cajun stood up and walked over the end of the bench and pointed to Abby Antagonism, “You’re jamming next. Let’s see some of that fire!”

The jams went by, fast, furious and rough. Claire was grateful that June had given her some one-on-one coaching on checking a few weeks previously, because she needed to assert her position almost constantly on the track. Finally, the period almost over, with the Killer Ladies down by one, Ragin’ Cajun had tossed Claire the pivot cover, and she took her place on the track, with Vampire Queen at the jammer line. But with Demon of Destruction serving a penalty, they would be hard-pressed to be able to win.

The whistle blew and the three blocking Killer Ladies tried to form a wall to prevent the Queen of Moons from breaking through. Amazonian Huntress and Rebel Rebel managed to cycle through the pack and break up their wall, giving the Queen of Moons the chance to break through. Claire tried to continue to block on her, but as she approached the end of the engagement area, she had to return to the pack. Vampire Queen was caught behind two blockers. In one fluid movement, she ripped the star cover from her helmet and passed it to Claire, taking the blockers by surprise. Shoving the cover onto her helmet, over the striped pivot cover, she took off, speeding away from the pack. With the jammer cover passed successfully to her, Claire became the jammer for the rest of the jam. The Queen of Moons was ahead of her, close to the back of the pack, but Vampire Queen and Yellow Brick House forming a strong wall, she wasn’t getting far.

As the Queen of Moons glanced back, she saw Claire coming up fast behind her. Trying to penetrate the wall for a few more seconds, she gave up and hit her hands against her hips. As Claire saw the other jammer calling off the jam, she came to the back of the pack. Seeing her opportunity, as they were right at the apex of the track, she leapt into the air, a perfect apex jump cutting off the inside edge of the track, landing her in the middle of the pack as Sasquatch whistled his fourth whistle. With that, Claire collapsed, her legs wobbly from exhaustion, aware of cheers and applause.

"Get up, girl, you did it!" Vampire Queen said, holding her spit-covered mouth guard in her hand so she could talk, looming over Claire.

"What?" Claire asked, confused.

"You scored two points! We won the game!"

Jumping to her feet, all traces of exhaustion gone, she turned to the scoreboard. Sure enough, it read they had a score of 75 to the Hell Hounds’ 74. Screaming and shouting and cheering, the rest of her team gathered around Claire, congratulating and hugging (virtually mauling) her, and savouring their first win of the season.

After the team calmed down, they went and shook the hands of the other team. Claire was treated to a number of pats on the back and slightly bitter mutterings of, “Well done.”

As Claire went to shake Fangella’s hand, Fangella gave her an appraising look, then shook her hand. “You played well out there newbie. Looking forward to playing you again.”

"Thank you Alex," Claire replied.

"I’m proud of you, Claire."

Claire pulled Alex into a hug, which was only interrupted when Amazonian Huntress pulled Alex off Claire, and wrapped Claire in a hug. “Good job,” Amazonian Huntress said.

As the players finished congratulating each other, Garth announced over the loudspeaker, “The after-party’s at Rebel Rebel’s bar, the Roadhouse. Some of you may remember the owner of the bar as Ellen “The Hammer” Harvelle, before she had to retire due to injury. So let’s go and remind her of what a roller derby after-party looks like. All players, friends, family and fans are invited!”

As the audience started to head out, family members and friends sought out the players. Claire was chatting with Amazonian Huntress by the benches when her father came over. “Good job out there, Emma,” he said, pulling her into a side-hug, one arm wrapped around her shoulder and arm, squeezing her against his side.

"Daaaaad!" she said, in embarrassment.

"Oh, did I embarrass the big, tough Amazonian Huntress?" her father teased. Letting Emma go, he held out his hand to Claire, "Hi, I’m Emma’s dad, Dean."

"Claire Novak," she said, shaking his hand, "Angelic Weapon."

"That was amazing final play, there. You should have seen your uncle. Whole game, I swear, this guy looked like he was made out of stone. I’ve never seen someone so serious at a roller derby game. Then Vampire Queen passed you the star and he was on his feet, cheering and clapping." Dean nudged Castiel in the ribs as he came to join the group. "Isn’t that right, Cas?" Claire blinked, her uncle had never been one to warm up to people quickly, yet he was fixing Dean, a man he’d only met a few hours earlier, with a fondly exasperated look.

"I enjoyed the game. You played very well, Claire," he said, recovering a bit of his decorum.

"You going to hit up the Roadhouse?" Dean asked Cas, "Emma’s already agreed to be the designated driver."

"I don’t want to intrude, this is Claire’s team. She won’t want her doof of an uncle there," Cas said, pulling out his wallet. "I have some money for you to take a cab home, please try not to be out too late and if you need to call me, don’t hesitate."

Glancing over at Dean, whose face had fallen a little, Claire piped up, “It’s okay, Castiel, why don’t you come too? Maybe Huntress can give us a ride home at the end of the night.”

Emma nodded enthusiastically then leaned over and whispered, “Wait til you see my dad’s car! It’s awesome, it’s worth being DD just to drive.”

"Are you sure?" he asked, seriously, but with a light of excitement in his eyes.

"Of course." As Emma headed to the change room to get ready and Dean went to talk to his brother, Claire turned to Castiel and asked, "Did you really get up and start cheering?"

His cheeks flushed with a tinge of pink. “Yes.”

Claire wrapped her arms around Castiel in a hug. Letting go of him quickly, she said, “Thank you for coming to watch my game.”

"You’re welcome, Angelic Weapon," he said, with a faint smile on his lips.

Claire went to the change room and as she stepped off the concrete, she turned back and saw Dean and Castiel talking. Smiling, she went to join her friends.


End file.
